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Recent Events on Unit 4 - Enlightenment and Nationalist Revolutions

After Louis XVIII took over, Napoleon tried to regain his power. As he was marching to Paris, he was praised by all of the citizens. Quickly, he had built a strong army. He became emperor of France again. But, he wouldn't stay without a fight. The British army was ready to battle near Waterloo in Belgium. The army was headed by the Duke of Wellington. In June 1815, Napoleon attacked, and the British army held its ground. Shortly thereafter, the Prussian army arrived to fight against Napoleon. After two days, Napoleon gave up. This ended the Hundred Days, Napoleon's last chance to regain his power.

In 1810, Padre Hidalgo called for Mexican Independence. Although he was just a poor priest in the village of Dolores, he was a well-educated man, who knew and agreed with the ideas with the ideas of the Enlightenment. In September of 1810, he called all of the peasants in his village into his village church, and he issued a rebellion against the Spanish. The call is currently known as the grito de Dolores. The next day, everyone who agreed with Hidalgo marched toward Mexico City, but was ultimately defeated by the Spanish army.

After news of the revolution reached Saint Domingue, the planters who lived there wanted the same rights as the people of France. Shortly there after, the enslaved Africans in Saint Domingue also demanded freedom. In 1801, Napoleon seized the colony and attempted to restore its sugar industry, but failed due to the diseases of the French forces. The rebels were also very fierce. Saint Domingue had finally won their freedom from France.

Napoleon decided to make himself emperor, and the French voters didn't oppose it. In December of 1804, he walked down the aisle of the Notre Dame Cathedral, ready to be crowned emperor. Right as the pope was about to place the crown on Napoleon's head, Napoleon snatched the crown and put it on his own head, signifying that he was not only better than the pope, but better than the Church itself. After he was made emperor, he began to seize every land he could. He tried to reassert French power in Saint Domingue, but failed. He decided that he was going to sell the Louisiana Territories to the United States for $15 million. Rather than feeling like a failure, Napoleon felt that he was actually doing something great. Not only did he gain large amounts of money, he also punished the British. At this point, Napoleon controlled Spain, most of Italy, the Grand Duchy of Warsaw, and the Confederation of the Rhine. While Napoleon conquered, he forced the rules of Austria, Prussia, and Russia to sign peace treaties. This being established gave Napoleon easy access to create the largest European empire since the Romans. The only battle Napoleon lost was the Battle of Tralfagar. This defeat was more important than any victory. Horatio Nelson was smart enough to split his French fleet, which helped him to capture many ships. This means that Napoleon had no chance of conquering Britain. The empire was very unstable, but Napoleon maintained it from 1807-1812, but then it fell to pieces.

After Napoleon returned back from Egypt, he seized political power. The lawmakers who remained after Napoleon's troops drove out other members voted to get rid of the Directory, and have a group of three consuls instead. Napoleon quickly seized his opportunity to be first consul and became a dictator. This is what is known as a coup d'etat, which literally means "blow to the state".

The third estate, who made up 97% of the population, had little privileges and were taxed heavily compared to the First and Second estates. Due to the extravagant spending of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette, who became known as "Madame Deficit", the country was in a terrible situation. The cost of living was rising, the weather caused shortage in crops, and the price of bread doubled, and cost nearly a month's salary for one loaf. A meeting of the National Assembly was called to pass laws in France. People began to tear down the Bastille as a sign of rebellion. In October 1789, women brought weapons to the king and queen's palace in Versailles, bringing with them weapons. They said that the National Assembly needs to provide bread for all. They then killed the guards of the palace and talked to Marie and Louis themselves. Shortly after that, the king and queen fled from Versailles to Paris.

In 1776, a meeting of the Second Continental Congress was held and they issued a Declaration of Independence from the King George. Thomas Jefferson was the writer of the Declaration, and it was signed by many influential political leaders. Most of the ideas from the Declaration of Independence were from the Enlightenment -- for example John Locke's belief in life, liberty, and property was carried over into the Declaration as life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. In the end, the Americans won their independence from Britain, with a little help from the French to fight the war along side them.

In 1748, Baron de Montesquieu published a book called "On the Spirit of Laws". He believed that the British king and his ministers had what was called "executive power", which means they carried out laws. Parliament members had "legislative power", which means they make the laws. The courts judges had "judicial power", which means they interpreted those laws. These beliefs were a main part of this book. Another idea from this book was the idea of checks and balances.